Chris Quinn: Some Gen Con memories

A friend to Geek Speak April Bremner (executive director for ChimaeraCon) was one of the many gaming enthusiasts to attend last week’s Gen Con. Here is some of what she saw and did there.

Thanks April!

Dear Geek Speak readers.

Sorry, I could not post before this. I was late getting to Gen Con and threw my schedule of whack.

This was an excellent year for Gen Con. I may have seen 5 percent of Gen Con this year.

Gen Con is the U.S.’s largest game convention. For one week each year gamers of all types and ages go forth to Indianapolis, Indiana. Once there they try out new games and/or play personal favorites.

Day 0, Aug. 15:

I arrived late Wednesday evening to Indianapolis. I called up some friends to meet up for a True Dungeon planning meeting. On the way to them, I passed by a favorite local restaurant, P.F. Chang’s, In their windows, I saw signs saying “Welcome Gamers.” My day was looking brighter. 🙂

In the foyer of The RAM, a restaurant and micro brewery, met up with another group friends from the Gen Con Auction. They were waiting for a table. During a brief catch up, chat with them, the friends I was meeting at The Ram came out to leave. After very short introduction, we proceeded to their Marriot hotel room. Tokens were traded and strategies were made. We were ready for tomorrow’s True Dungeon adventure in Greyhawk.

I left for my hotel after 1 a.m. on Thursday. People were still playing games in the hotel lobbies. It was great to be at Gen Con.

The Ram  A restaurant and micro brewery in downtown Indianapolis. It is the favorite hangout for Gen Con attendees and a sponsor of Gen Con 2008. The whole restaurant was deck up with great banners of games and game companies.

True Dungeon  a live action dungeon crawl using modified 2nd edition Dungeon and Dragon rules. This event usually sells out a half hour after being offer for online registration. It uses collectible tokens to represent players’ equipment in the game.

Gen Con Auction  This years auction is run by Troll and Toads. It had over 9,000 items on Wednesday. This does not include items received on Thursday or Friday.